


More Than Survive

by HolidayHabit



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, keith takes a shot for lance, people care about keith and he doesn't realize it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 07:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11100105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolidayHabit/pseuds/HolidayHabit
Summary: Keith takes a shot from the Galra's that was aimed at Lance, and doesn't understand why the team was so upset at him for doing so, until revelations are made.





	More Than Survive

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is from Be More Chill. If you haven't heard this musical, I would strongly recommend :') It's brilliant.

 

The battle had been going on for a little over 4 vargas. It was clear each paladin was exhausted, as their lion’s movements grew more sluggish.  
  
“Hunk! Watch your right!” Pidge called out.  
  
“Cover me!” He replied through the com, edging his way closer to the Galra fleet to dispatch a direct hit.  
  
“I’m a little busy with something here!” Pidge shouted back, narrowly avoiding being obliterated by one of the Galra’s attacks.  
  
“You’re covered,” Shiro replies to Hunk, now by his side.  
  
“Why didn’t we form Voltron to begin with?” Lance complained loudly, “We don’t have enough time to do it now! Why would we wait for it to become a drastic measure when we could have avoided it to begin with?” He pointed out.  
  
“Lance! Just focus on your end. We could get this done a lot sooner if you’d stop complaining.” Keith scolds him with frustration.  
  
“What? Just cause I have a good point you want me to shut up?” Lance scowls. He swerved the Blue Lion to avoid a beam that came way.  
  
Shiro unleashed the jaw blade of the Black Lion and began slicing the smaller battleships, while Hunk merely ordered the Yellow Lion to headbutt them, which caused enough damage to give them some spare time.  
  
“We need to form Voltron!” Pidge yelled. Maybe Lance did have a point.  
  
“There’s too much going on right now,” Shiro said, “But we might be able to defeat them on our own. This is a smaller fleet compared to the one when we were dealing with the Balmera.”  
  
“But we had Voltron!” Hunk exclaimed, “I hate to say it, I really do, but we really need Voltron, like right now. This has gone on for hours! Taking a few hits while forming Voltron won’t be that bad, since we’ll, y’know, be Voltron?”  
  
“I don’t think you get how much damage a few hits can do, though, Hunk.” Lance explained, “Which is why we should have done it to begin with!”  
  
“We can’t go back and fix that, so we need to deal with what we have now. If there’s an opening, we can try to form Voltron.” Shiro explained calmly. Many more Galra ships exploded as Keith fire blasted them.  
  
“Nice one!” Called out the green paladin.  
  
Slowly, the Galra ships had begun to withdraw.  
  
“Paladins!” Cried out Allura’s voice through the comms, “They’ve begun targeting the castle! We must retreat!”  
  
“The particle barrier’s weakened, it can’t hold on much longer. Ten more ticks and we’re done for!” Coran bellowed.  
  
“We have to use this time to form Voltron,” Shiro said, “We’ll be there soon.” He told Allura.  
  
“Lance! Watch out!” Keith shouted, practically shoving the larger lion out of the way and away from the charged ion cannon's firing. Instead, the Red Paladin was hit. Hard.  
  
Everything went white.  
  
Oh no.

“That idiot! Keith! Are you alive?” Lance shouted through the coms. There was only static on Keith’s end. A wave of guilt washed over him.

  
“We need to get to the castle, and fast.” Shiro warned, “Hunk, can you carry the Red Lion along the way? And Pidge, can you cover for him?” His hands shook over the controls of the Black Lion.  
  
“Yes sir!” They chorused.  
  
Lance’s expression twisted painfully.  
  
“Lance, help me here,” Shiro began, “These ships still need to be taken down, and since we’re technically down three lions, I’m counting on you to not hold back, our teams counting on us!” He insisted.  
  
“Like I’d EVER hold back!” Lance said, thrusting the controls of the Blue Lion forward. A warmth spread in his chest, Shiro gave me an important job. He mused.  
  
The battle seemed to move along much quicker than before, even without the other lions. Most likely because they managed to defeat the majority of the Galra’s ships before Keith had been hit.  
  
“Last one, end strong!’ Shiro encouraged.  
  
Using his ice power to defeat the last ship, the battle was finally over, and he and Shiro were able to retreat back into the castle.  
  
“We need to get him in a healing pod and quick!” Allura’s voice rang out. As Shiro and Lance walked through through their hangar doors, they watched as an unconscious Keith was carried away by a panicking Hunk.  
  
“Hold up, Coran, is he alright?” Lance asked quietly, stepping towards the Altean with concern in his features.  
  
“Well, he will be.” Allura replied for Coran. “Right now, his body is in shock from the impact of the Galra’s beam. Even Red has shielded herself..” She trailed off, looking down. Guilt bubbled inside of Lance. If he was paying better attention, Keith would be fine.  
  
But Keith will be fine, once he’s done healing up.

Lance didn’t think healing could take so long.  
  
Of course that stupid Mullet-head had to outdo him.  
  
He’d been in the healing pod for two weeks.  
  
Two entire weeks.  
  
Coran predicted that he’d be finished healing up by now, so Keith could finally come out.  
  
Hunk was sat next to Pidge, debating on different methods she could use to improve her computer’s drive so it could finally withstand a high-quality game, should they come back to the space mall and find any. Allura leaned against the side of the healing pod, clipboard gripped tightly to her chest as she made small talk with Coran.  
  
Lance was sprawled across the floor, grumbling while listening to Pidge and Hunk and were they even speaking English anymore? Lance wasn’t unintelligent person, but he knew nothing about computers. Phones, on the other hand, he was a social media star practically. If he had his phone with him right now, he’d definitely be Instagram famous.  
  
Shiro was observing Keith’s distorted features through through the cryopod’s aqua shielding. He was definitely having a dream of sorts, and from the looks of it, not a very pleasant one.  
  
“How much longer does he actually need? You’d think fourteen quintants would be enough.” He groaned, standing up from his spot. He stood next to Shiro with his arms crossed.  
  
“You’d be surprised how much can happen within a few doboshes.” Coran pointed out.  
  
Lance tapped on the shield impatiently, “Yeah, but still.”  
  
Hunk gasped dramatically, “Don’t tap on the glass! You’ll disturb him!” He paused for a moment, “Wait, I think that’s just with fish bowls. That’s definitely with fish bowls.”  
  
“What’s a,” Allura’s eyebrows furrowed down, “Fish bowl?” She said the word with hesitation, as if saying am I saying that right?  
  
Before anyone could answer her, however, the aqua shielding seemed to disappear in thin air. Keith let out a groan, blinking wearily. Before he could look around to see the surprised faces of the other paladins and two Alteans, his knees seemed to give in, causing him to fall forward.  
  
Keith fell directly into the arms of the blue paladin, and didn’t seem to mind at all as his head lolled forward, resting on Lance’s shoulder.

Lance practically shrieked as the red paladin used him as a rest.  
  
“Woah,” He started, “I know you’re happy to see me, but this is a b-bit much.” He cursed his stutter. He was NOT flustered.  
  
“One minute..” Keith muttered, his voice hoarse from disuse.  
  
“One minute? That’s all you have to say? You nearly got yourself killed, you jerk!” Lance glared. “You freaked everybody out, you know!” He continued.  
  
Keith began to grow aware of his surroundings. He blinked his eyes, rubbing at them until his vision was clear.  
  
He nearly jumped back in surprise when he realized just who he’d been using to lean on. He pushed Lance away cautiously. Until what Lance had said settled in.  
  
“Wait? Freaked out? What for?” Keith asked densely.  
  
“Did you choose to ignore the first part, or are you deaf? You just jollied on down just so you could get shot by the Galra’s ion cannon!” Lance scolded. “I’m Keith, I have a mullet and I want to die,” He said in a mocking tone.  
  
Hunk and Pidge were suddenly much less interested in discussing computers, and much more interested in the two paladin’s argument.  
  
Shiro, Allura, and Coran just stood and listened. Nobody disagreed with Lance, but at the same time, Keith had just gotten out of the healing pod, and probably needed rest, or at least some food goo.  
  
Keith scowled at him, “What’s your point?”  
  
Hunk gawked at him, “Wait dude, are you serious right now? Or are you actually kidding?”  
  
Keith stared at him wordlessly, hands clenched into fists as if ready to defend himself.  
  
“What? Is it that unrealistic that we’d care about you dying?” Lance looked sincerely offended.  
  
“Keith, you’re an important part of the team,” Shiro stepped in and said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “And you’re our friend.”  
  
Keith felt a warmth blossom in his chest, and a lump form in his throat.  
  
“And, like you told me when I tried to leave, we wouldn’t be able to form Voltron.” Pidge commented on. “Somebody’s got to defend the universe.”  
  
Keith almost smiled, his head seemed to drop before he could. He wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, putting him a very awkward position. The red paladin wasn’t used to anything like this, much less having four people confess that he was an important person to not just them, but the universe itself. His eyes had begun to sting.  
  
Before he knew it, he was pulled into a strong embrace.

Keith wasn’t sure why out of all times, he wanted to cry now more than ever.  
  
He felt himself slowly begin to return to hug to Shiro, albeit a bit hesitant. His expression contorted into once in pain as his eyes had begun to water. Damn it, not now.  
  
One tear fell, then two. His vocal cords suddenly felt strangled.  
  
Keith was now openly crying, unable to hold back any further as his shoulders’ shook with trembles. A sob seemed to tear through his throat.  
  
The team watched in bewilderment as the Red Paladin broke down at the simple idea of them caring about him.  
  
Lance joined in on the embrace, then Hunk, and finally, Pidge. Keith practically melted.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment! 
> 
> (I drew the fanart before I wrote the story tbh, I was drawing it because I love this scenario in particular, and I'm not huge into writing, so this was kind of me trying to challenge myself to write something?)
> 
> in case the images didn't work: https://www.flickr.com/photos/150210070@N02/35108974605/in/dateposted-public/  
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/150210070@N02/34978301241/in/dateposted-public/  
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/150210070@N02/34978279501/in/dateposted-public/


End file.
